Poultry industry: release land in CRP, end ethanol import duty

The country could actually face a shortage of corn, its most abundant crop, as ethanol demand -- driven by federal subsidies and mandates -- outstrips supply, an executive with a a major poultry producer told Congress today.

The executive - Matthew Herman, manager of a Tyson Foods chicken production and processing complex in Monroe, North Carolina - said that U.S. animal agriculture has survived high feed prices in the past. But those were temporary conditions caused by bad weather or other problems, he said. The high prices facing the industry now are caused by ethanol subsidies and mandates set by law.

The statements were included in a press release issued today by the National Chicken Council (NCC). Click here to read the full release.

Herman said NCC and North Carolina Poultry Federation had 8 recommendations on the ethanol crisis. Among them are release of "non-environmentally sensitive cropland" now tied up in the conservation reserve program and an end to the export duty on imported ethanol when it expires at the end of 2008.

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